Tradeoffs

Yesterday, I was off work like most of us were. The weather forecast showed a big snowstorm headed our way. The holiday "blackout" period at the mountain was over. During holiday periods, we aren't allowed to simply show up and ski at the resort. We have to at least volunteer to work if we are needed. Yesterday, I was allowed to simply show up and ski if I wanted.

But, there's that Western States thing out there in less than six months. So, my wife and I went to bed early on New Year's Eve. No alcohol at all for me. She got up early yesterday to go skiing. I got up early to run 20 on the treadmill.

My last single run over 10 miles was an easy 12 miler on November 10th. I've done some days since then where I ran twice to get over 10 miles, but no single runs of 10 or more. My last 20 miler was on September 23rd.

Because of my lack of long runs, I took it easy yesterday. Every five miles, I took a 5-minute walking break. I walked for a few minutes at the start and finish. I was amazed at how good I felt for the whole run. My time was slow, but it felt good.

Then, I went home and had some lunch and went out to snowblow the driveway. My wife called from the mountain at 4:15. She had just finished skiing and wanted to let me know how great the skiing had been. She was about to have a beer with some of our friends. It sounded like a great day - awesome skiing and a post-skiing drink with friends.

But, there are tradeoffs to be made these days.

A web-site I read regularly had this quote on it a few days ago:

"If you have a stated goal, but your actions are incompatible with reaching that goal, then it really isn't a goal."

Yesterday, my actions were compatible with the goal.

178 days until race day...